Why the Heavy NMG Should NOT Have a Delay

So I have seen a few posts on this topic, but nothing really solid that describes how the gameplay is currently balanced, so here is my take on the subject:

There are 2 base infantry classes meant for attacking, LA & HA (hence the term "assault" in their names). Combat medics should be behind HA's, and Engineers behind MAX's. Combat medics & Engineers should not win against HA's skill for skill on average, they are not meant for that role.

So then you have to look at balancing HA vs LA:
LA's special ability is the jumpjet, which allows the class to get the "jump" on HA with a surprise attack from an unusual angle.
HA's special ability (then NMG in particular) is a shield that acts as an equalizer to the "jump" LA can get on them.

If you add a delay to the HA shield it's no longer a counter to the "jump" LA can get, and LA will be overpowered vs HA.

If you lose to an HA* and his "I win shield " as an Engineer or Medic the first thing to ask yourself was "Where was your Heavy/Max, and why were you not behind them?"

* - Or LA when they use jump jets to attack from an advantageous angle.

NOTE: If the HA shield gets nerfed, there is a chance "medic trains" could become OP. With how fast revives are now (not to mention rez nades), it's already close to OP in a well organized squad.

The NMG isn't really a full counter to JJ tactics, but more of an equalizer, it's saved me many times in against a rooftop LA. Sometimes latency and an opponents ability to land lead on my dome kill me before the NMG comes up anyway. I am still not sure why support players run towards heavies spraying body shots. That's just asking for a bad time.

Medic vs HA @ Medium Range / Med-Long range
The Medic class usually has the accuracy advantage at medium range. The assault rifle will land more headshots at medium range than the LMG and provides some equalization between the classes. "Ohh...wait!, you're saying the Medic is, on average, better at medium range, playing mid line (support), than the front line CQC pushers HA?" Yes, yes I am.

At med-long range neither the LMG or AR are accurate enough to easily kill each other before getting to cover (unless your cover-to-cover movement is totally fail). Once in cover the Medic not only has the advantage of accuracy, but also no health limitation. If a medic pins down a lone HA, he can win the through attrition. Without support, the HA will be forced to play "pop out wars", which he will lose, or try and use the NMG health boost to close the gap under fire and find new cover for a quick med-kit stab. At that point his NMG is toast, and possibly some shield. The medic and HA are now on even ground health wise, but the medic still has the better weapon. Balanced

Engineer vs HA @ QCQ thu medium range
Engineers are vehicle jockeys, explosive junkies, turret wizards, and MAX pocket repairmen. This class needs no buffs or nerfs against the assault classes, it has enough roles already. At med-long range an engineer can easily beat a heavy with the AV or AI mana turret. Is that an "I-win" button too? In close quarters an engineer should be humping MAX legs, not trying to shoot HA. When a solo engineer runs face-2-face with an HA he should get dunked for being without his max. Balanced.

Infiltrator vs HA @ QCQ
LOL, your invisible. Try making sure you land headshots, your life depends on it. This is a tough class in general to play in QCQ. It requires a special kind of player, usually with skills the majority don't posses, but...you get to be invisible: Balanced.

TL;DR:
The medic, engineer, and infiltrator classes are just played differently, and have different strengths than the assault classes. I think the "instant on" NMG is an important part of the balance equation and adding a delay would negatively impact the variety in gameplay and required tactics if removed. The diversity in gameplay and departure from the homogenized gunplay of COD/BF is what makes Planetside fun and unique for me. I would prefer the NMG remained unchanged.

HA can engage every single target on the battlefield, both land and air, from any range. It does not need to have unfair advantages in every single 1v1 fight they get in.

I'd actually be more of the mind that instead of the shield, take away the LMG, and make them use either ARs or carbines. They are already carrying an enormous rocket launcher, the idea that they are carrying an LMG as well is laughable.

No... dude.. you do not want to give HA assault riffles.. that would make them even more OP..
LMG are kind of crappy, all they have going for them are the large mags.

So you really think that the mobility and support classes should lose to a HA even though they get the drop on them? You think we should support twitch shooting and key mashing over tactics and good placement? No.

The realistic TTK at longer ranges is well over a second, more than enough for the HA to mash F even if the enemy has the drop on them. A charge up of 1 second or less won't harm the HA's that think ahead, will reward flanking the heavies more, and punish idiots that use it as a crutch.

Eyeklops... no.

I don't think you are fully thinking this one through...

AR and carbines have higher dps and CoF than the LMG, if they nerf shield, they need to buff LMG, equal or higher dps, better hipfire CoF.

Why don't you just cut off my nipples while you're at it?

This isn't even a nerf, it's an adjustment. Players who preempt the enemy with a shield activation won't notice a difference.

Maybe if they removed the shield entirely

The new shield will very probably function like the resist shield currently does - rewarding smart gameplay instead of compensating for dumb gameplay. Everybody was right alongside this with the Vanguard so why is this change suddenly an issue?

If you can't do better than an engineer with a carbine when you're given 100 round magazine gun and 1800+ effective health then just hang it up. This is not the end of the class, it's the end of the shield being an OH**** button

Infiltrators aren't invisible, and I can even argue that they are pretty damn easy to see plus the cloaking sound always warns you when there's one around. You don't need an ohsh*t button because you can't read the "you're about to get flanked" clues.

They just need to be careful about the delay when factoring in NMG vs. Resist. As long as you turn on the shield before you die, NMG gives the same effective HP regardless of it it's turned on at the beginning of taking damage or at the end. With resist shield, it only provides more effective HP against incremental damage, so you are severely penalized for any delay, more so than with NMG. It's a tricky problem.

1. HA cannot engage every single target on the battlefield in one loadout (barring the use of the horrid Annihilator when talking about vehicles). HA cannot engage a long distance sniper. HA cannot choose when to engage a Light Assault on a rooftop out of view. HA cannot reliably engage an Engineer on a turret pointed his direction. HA cannot effectively engage all vehicle types in one loadout.

2. HA does not have an unfair advantage in every single 1v1, try reading the OP as it lists a few examples where HA is at a disadvantage to the other classes.

3. Trading the LMG for AR's (please NO) only serves to increase the 1v1 killing power of the HA class while reducing their ability to provide "suppression" fire. Other than being better at suppressive fire, LMG's are overall worse for a given target range when compared to equivalent AR's. Carbines only HA's would certainly restrict the aggregate effectiveness of the class to a shorter range, but at that range they would be, again, more powerful than when they have an LMG in 1v1 situations.

Having triple the amount of rounds on tap is a huge advantage in a close range fight. The slightly slower TTK of LMGs is far more than countered by the overshield. Even in the case of the magazine fed LMGs, you still have almost double the number of rounds available per reload.

Yes, giving them ARs would probably be a bit much, but carbines wouldn't be as bad. They could still fight at close range but they wouldn't be able to just sit on the trigger and win by simple volume of fire while the shield makes them take forever to die in close range fights.

I have a simpler reason.

HA is the main combat infantry class. Thier ability is indicative of this.

Therefore, a good HA should pwn any other non-HA player in a straight up fight.

Problem supports? Grow up and play HA.

They already have access to SMGs, which are all of these things you described

Personally, as long as I'm landing headshots with my SAW/X11/Tross/Reaper I don't even notice the shield

The AA rocket launcher can effectively fight both tanks and lock onto aircraft.

Have you ever used the SAW or NS-11M? No? k.

Those guns can tear people apart at range.

But he can pop his shield at any time to make that meaningless

wtf? Rockets that hit the barrel of the turret are instant death for the engineer.

Yes they can, with either the Annihilator or AA lock-on launcher.

All of which you manufactured to make your point. I can name a dozen scenarios where the HA wins just because he hit F and tanked shots that should have killed him, instead of the HA planning and being tactical (like every other class).

The reality of the situation is; HA's should not be able to survive being flanked just because they hit F.

LMG's have more bullets.

Quantity has a quality all its own.

They already have access to SMGs, which are all of these things you described

Personally, as long as I'm landing headshots with my SAW/X11/Tross/Reaper I don't even notice the shield. HA can be a good class but they're hardly king makers, certainly not enough to justify the sentiment of

My medic can pick up and wring out any HA. The only real support class in this game are engineers, and even then not really because they're the purpose built vehicle jockeys. It's why engineers consume so much of the playtime in this game but you can't get a damn repair when you need one

The Phoenix can even do this without the need to aim for the barrel (as it will kill the turret even if it hits the shield, as it is treated like a vehicle by the game) AND from behind cover!

Heavy shield needs to be FAR more restrictive in its movement. Pop that shield and you better be near some type of cover you can duck behind. Get caught in the open or to far from cover...toast! The actual mechanic, numbers or implementation needs no change due to rather good weapon balance as is(despite what forumside says).
All i believe that is needed is some type of increased liability / limiting factor to poping your shield such as:
-no run speed
-increased reduction in walk speed
-increased in game duration for animations such as reload, throwing of nades, weapon switching( think you can pop your shield and do everything? NO, its there to soak up bullets not allow you to be safe in these situations where other clasess just have to be smart when doing such things.)
-no multiple jumps(bunnyhopping) though this hasnt been an issue in months.
-This suggestion allows multiple heavies to be the wall of bullet giving, bullet taking front liners they are suppose to be. While still limiting the forumside preceived OP'ness of the lone HA who pops his shield in a 1v1.

Also putting support roles at a hard disadvantage due to solely being support class as eyeklpos suggests, is how you build a MMO this is a fps. Teamwork is not something you can force no matter what the devs do, especially not your way.

The delay thing is horrible idea supported by horrible players- smg infiltrator ninjas and support class users that does not understand what support class or infiltrator means.
The devs should just ignore the pointless whining of people that want equal fights in 1v1 with different non-equal purposed classes.
The other classes have their own perks, heavy have its shield, unless you add delay on cloak/decloak mechanic, medic and engineer gun and jump jets this change makes no sense. LMGs are bad enough and HA is perfectly balanced.
So if you want to enjoy the perks of different classes you must also accept the negative sides of each class. If you are feeling that 1 v 1 infantry duels are your thing use HA. Whining how OP is HA as class and not using its supposed "advantage" at the same time makes your arguments laughable.
CQC Carabines and ARs and Shotguns are really viable option for the support classes in 1 v 1 against HA that gives fair chance to win against crappy LMGs.

The good thing in this whole bad thing is that the said delay wont work in reality simple because lag and sync between different peoples clients.
So if they make the delay huge they would overnerf HA class, so they would make it really small then it wont be noticed or registered because of client sync and lag.

Note that I barely use my HA and even less its shield, since I am not so used with its mechanic, I run support classes 90% of the time.

I disagree with this assessment.
HA is the anti-vehicle class, they are the guy with the rocket launcher.
Their role is supposed to be giving their team suppressing fire with their LMG and rocketing vehicles.
The shield is meant so you can take more damage while sending 100 rounds downrange giving away your position.

The basic fighting class in this game is meant to be light assault, which is why it is the default class.

Heavy Assault is going to get hit with the balance sledgehammer.
It is going to happen, anything that is overused gets balanced into uselessness.

I dont doubt the offensive capabilities of your medic, since many AR's, especially TR ones, utterly wipe the floor with LMGs in every single category except for kill potential per magazine.

And engineers may be squishy, but even MAXs need to think twice if they find themselves on the wrong end of an AI turret.